filling a void in southern food blogging since 2004

Tuesday, 01 October 2013

Vivian Howard explores the south one ingredient at a time in the new PBS series A Chef's Life. She swore she'd never return to small-town North Carolina, but after her parents made a deal with her, she and her husband, "restaurant lifers", left Manhattan to open The Chef & The Farmer in Kinston about six years ago.

If you've traveled through eastern NC, you'll know, there's not much there. Most folks might see parts as they pass by on their way to the beach. But those parts are lovely, indeed. Corn fields, pastures, and charming roadside attractions infuse the show with a rural, authentic feel. Plus, Howard's delightful molasses accent invites viewers to the table and series from the start.

A Chef's Life highlights NC's terroir. In the first episode--devoted to sweet corn--Howard talks to farmers, selects corn for her restaurant, and builds daily menus. Interspersed between these activities, Howard reminisces about growing up in Deep Run, a few miles down the road from Kingston, and the three block parade that everyone in the community comes out for. Note the corn float made from emptied yellow milk containers. Howard muses about raising twins, how she and her husband work together in the kitchen, picking and prepping corn, and tempting children with corn dishes.

Halfway through the corn episode Howard demonstrates how to smoke corn as part of constructing a smoked corn relish. Most folks who watch food shows won't learn new kitchen skills, but you may learn new information about relishes and be compelled to try it for yourself after watching how easy relishes come together. In the south relish making was a means of preserving summer produce. Women canned corn and other veggies that they'd serve months later, thus brightening up drab winter fare.

And then, a fire in the kitchen forces Howard and company to start over.

Always drama in the kitchen. Lots to tune in for, so watch as more episodes air on your local PBS station. I support PBS, by the way (and public radio, too). But didn't receive any renumeration for fanning any flames on this fiiiiiiiiiire. Rolling my eyes.

Loved Knowing Your Value. Stumbled upon it front-faced out in the business
section at big-box bookstore--I don't shop indies in my small city because we
don't have indies in my small city. And Brzezinski's book, that book, is
so chockablock full with excellent advice, that I took two pages of notes from
it that I share with my Intro to Women's Studies students--yeah I teach about
identity, justice, and equality, as well as information literacy, as my day
job--in the weeks we talk about work in and outside the home. That's always my
topic to cover, but they aren't so interested for some reason.

But, I digress. Obsessed: America's Food Addiction--And My Own, is
a self-explanatory title, folks. You can figure it out, but I'll give you a synopsis.
Its genesis was a conversation Brzezinski and her best friend, Diane, another
woman in broadcasting, had that pushed their friendship to the edge.

If you don't know Brzezinski, she's a gorgeous, size 2 blonde,
ambitious, mid-forties woman with two daughters. And her friend Diane is a bit
older, no children, whose career isn't as high profile as Brzezinski's. Plus,
Diane weighed about 250 pounds. Brzezinski flat out told Diane that she
was fat and that she loved her and didn't want her to die and that she needed to
lose 50 poundsm more or less.

But that wasn't all. Brzezinski confessed her own food obsession.
How she thought about food constantly from the moment she awoke each morning.
How she exercised and pushed her body mercilessly. How she disciplined her mind
so that she wouldn't overeat, wouldn't indulge in the foods that she really
craved.

The women's ongoing conversation and personal food histories are
interwoven within the chapters of the book within which Brzezinski captures the
state of our freaked out relationship with food today. Between the two of them, they're tried every fad diet in the USA. She explores fat phobia by visiting
Yale's Rudd Center and seeing how the Fat Phobia Scale works and watching fat
bias in action.

She shares information about the changing eating habits of
American families. Depending on how well versed readers are, much of this is
not new, such as American homemakers relying on processed and canned foods more
so in the 1950s and 1960s. And how this has snowballed to the point that today

Cooking from
scratch seems to have become a hobby for a small group of people and a chore
that the rest of us no longer bother with.

Too, we're aware of food science and we biologically respond to
foods that have added sugar, fat, and salt: we become addicted to
them, like methheads. Brzezinski includes interviews with several recovering food addicts,
case studies, if you will, making her argument more persuasive: Michael Prager,
Ashley Gearhardt, and Brian Stetler all dealt with food cravings and won,
eventually.

Reading about sugar in our diets was most illuminating. I considered whether there was a tipping point that our bodies could or could
not metabolize. Thankfully, I don't drink sugary drinks, which are mentioned as
the worst offenders. But learning about how hard the liver works to break down fructose,
plus its potential link to cancer is worrisome. Dare I mention obesity, diabetes, etc. I think y'all know all that, right?

As the book progresses, Diane loses weight and exercises while
Brzezinski adds weight and tries remaining at 135 which is her body's set
point. She visits a nutritionist who suggests she add more protein to her diet
for satiety since she rarely feels full after eating her spartan diet. She solicits
dieting advice from persons successful at maintaining weight loss: Frank Bruni,
Padma Lakshmi, Jennifer Hudson, Nora Ephron, and others.

One of the last chapters was most important, especially to me,
"Teach your children well." Modeling healthy eating when your own
habits aren't that fantastic, what a conundrum? One exercise in the book uses a
points system to help children understand the quality of different food
choices; you rate the food from one to ten.

What works best for me/us is not buying high fructose corn syrup items, but then my husband buys and brings home those items.

Duh.

Brzezinski uses her platform to open the conversation about this
topic with her audience and widen it to other audiences and readerships. It's
an excellent introduction to what's going on with our food and why we should be
more mindful about what goes into our mouths. Afterall, it is our very lives we're talking about. We should be mindful about what we eat, when we eat, why we eat, and how we eat.

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Devouring Tequila Mockingbird this month. Sure, you can read it straight through. But I find it's better to take it in sips, like a cocktail. Its subtitle (and clever title) tells all: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. As a bookish type I was drawn to this. And I noticed while visiting Columbus' Book Loft, that a customer clutched it to her bosom as she ferreted her way through the store's myriad Alice in Wonderland rooms, only to leave it in the cocktail section after all that traipsing.

After all that there's the standard business about tools and glassware, equipment, techniques, garnishes, and flavorings.

And then comes the inflammatory part.

Part 1, Drinks for Dames. Yeah.

So the book is divided into five parts. Ladies first, I suppose, then part 2 is gulps for guys. Then Federle provides "bulk recipes" for book clubs in part three. Fourth is for recovering readers, i.e., the virgin drinks. And then last are munchies for book hounds--not the real title.

So if we get initial objection out of the way regarding gendering of drinks then we can proceed. Why divide the book into drinks for girls and drinks for boys? So I gathered from the loose reasoning here in the brief chapter intro is that the books have female protagonists/heroines. Or they have male protagonists, and that was a simple way to organize and divide? Because overall, I couldn't determine how I'd gender some of the "men's drinks" if I had to. What man drinks blue curacao? Okay, who that is serious about cocktails drinks blue curacao? Confession: I've never tasted it, so I'm typing outta my butt here. But it's blue, and that can't be natural.

Okay. My case study. First drink: One Flew Over the Cosmo's Nest. Figure it out. If you've read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I have, the narrator is Chief Bromden who comments on the sociopathic antics of Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack played him in the movie). Nurse Ratched is a what? A major character? I can't remember. She decides who gets medication and EST.

But I digress. A cosmopolitan is a "ladies drink", thus fits in better with the Kesey book's title.

I didn't try a lot of the ladies drinks because they were made with Champagne. I don't like it. Curiously, several of the men's drinks are made with champagne, too. I bought wasabi paste to make Bloody Carrie, but haven't been in the mood for that type of tomato drink this summer, but it's on my list. As is Ernest Heminway's bloody mary recipe--even though I'm not a Hemingway fan.

So my favorite of the bunch, that I made over and over? The S(ide)carlet Letter: cherry juice, brandy, and triple sec. I try to do this book reviewing and cocktail making on the cheap. But since today is payday I'm heading to the liquor store for a good bottle of brandy. I substituted pisco for brandy in the S(ide)carlet Letter.

Really delicious. It became, as Federle predicted, a standby.

If you fancy yourself a mixologist and a person of letters, then Tequila Mockingbird will bring hours of reading and drinking pleasure to your home and your vicious circle. Wittiest cocktail literature mashup I've heard, ever. Here are a few to pique your interest: Lord of the Mai-Tais, The Adventures of Sherbet Holmes, The Postman Always Brings Ice, and Lord Pimm.

Go ahead, buy it. Or give it as a gift. This is not a download. It's too nice, you gotta own it and rub your hands on the thick deckle-edge paper, people!

I'm not scientific. I didn't train at any culinary school. Doubling usually works for me. It worked this time. use real butter's recipe yielded a quart/liter of syrup, while mine yielded almost half a gallon (the photo below is much less than half a gallon, I've made a LOT of strawberry sodas).

I poured it into a glass gallon apple cider jar I couldn't throw out. I'm old, but not terribly old. Yet, one set of my grandparents lived through the Great Depression. I learned recycling and resiliency from the examples they modeled vis a vis their frugal lifestyle.

Confession: I hoard glass bottles, but maybe not because of why you think. When I find a framework I like, or construct one, I'll mount a bottle tree in my yard. Haven't decided whether front or back, yet. Bottle trees, if you don't know, are associated with the southern US. Empty bottles are stuck on limbs of a tree in a yard and they trap evil spirits around the perimeter so they don't enter your home. It originated in the Kongo and came to the US with slaves who were captured and sold. And, its practice spread with the African-American diaspora. It's a Hoodoo folk-magic belief.

Once your syrup is made, it keeps in the fridge for about two weeks. To made soda, mix sparkling/carbonated water, syrup, and ice in a glass at a ratio that pleases you. I do about half syrup to sparkling water, but Ian likes more carbonation. Plus, he really liked it. Reminded me of that old Life commercial. He likes it, hey Mikey!

As for the experience of drinking this strawberry soda. Well, it's simply delightful. I can't think of a better use for strawberries when they come into season. It's the most refreshing summer drink I've ever had. Other than a fruity cocktail. Homemade strawberry soda is a sweet taste that satisfies all your senses.

Strawberry syrup opened my eyes to the possibilities of other fruit syrups and their use in drinks. Not thinking beyond drinks at this point. Mostly just sodas, cocktails, maybe a frozen-ish liquor drink, etc. I'm a thirsty woman.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

It's summertime, the perfect time for a smoothie. And if you're cultivating a smoothie addiction then you may be at the point where you need a few tips regarding the smoothie life.

So let me provide a bit of smoothie-laden value to you. A few tips for building a better smoothie and getting the most from your blender's working hours.

As you build your smoothie place the liquid and/or fresh ingredients in the blender jar first. So this includes soy milk, regular milk, water, oranges, berries, nectarines, kiwis, etc. Placing the liquids and juicy fruits nearest the blade ensures that blade assembly won't whir fruitlessly whilst you waste electricity (green tip). If you place all your frozen items in the jar first (at the bottom), then often your smoothie-making time lengthens (time management & productivity tip) as your blender blade bogs down with burden of frozen items.Then you end up removing the lid, stirring the contents, pushing liquify again, watching more impotent whirring. Repeat. And there you stand, jonesing for your smooothie. Repeat with gnashing of teeth.

Through trial and error I've found that adding my powdered items second, just after the liquid, helps distribut them throughout the smoothie. Try it and see. So these are protein powders, and ground seeds and nuts you might use like almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc. Chia and sesame are small enough that I leave them whole. But most blenders won't pulverize nuts, and you can't suck whole nuts through your straw (eighty-six the straw unless it's a reusable stainless-steel--green tip). You need to hand-chop/grind nuts with a knife, spice mill, mortar & pestle or buy them already prepped. I use Bob's Red Mill organic brown flaxseed meal and almond meal (they have hazelnut meal as well). Speaking of other "powders," I add spices to my smoothies such as cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger.

Freeze your bananas. I know, it's crazy. But fresh bananas don't do well in the blender. Just try it and see. Let me know what your experience with that is. Mine is this: They mush. They chunk. And they don't get small enough to incorporate well within the smoothie. This tip straight from The Body Reset Diet. Chop frozen bananas into coins and then pop them into your blender jar with other frozen fruits for your smoothie.

Let your frozen fruits (and veggies as the case may be) thaw a few minutes before blending. Received this advice straight from KitchenAid after burning through one drive/gasket on my blender. When you let them thaw, your blender's blade has less work to do and this extends the life of your blender. However, I like a thicker smoothie, more along the lines of a "freezie", and I don't necessarily follow this advice. But, if you want to save energy (green tip) and conserve your appliances then this tip is for you.

Take risks with your protein sources. Sure you like bananas, and they're high in protein, but also contain 27.5g of sugar. So incorporating chia seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, almonds, walnuts, and other sources of protein like avocados into your smoothie for variety and to meet your daily nutritional serving requirements thus keeping your glycemic index intake low is important if your goal with consuming smoothies is health and lifestyle related. Man, that was a long sentence. Sorry.

Experiment with texture/thickness/thinness by adding liquid, ice, or semi-solid ingredients. After you've made a few dozen smoothies you'll figure out your smoothie preferences: whether you like a thin smoothie, a thick smoothie, or one in-between. When you over or under-do, correcting the smoothie is as simple as adding more to your blender jar. When it's too thick, add soy milk or water. When it's too watery, add ice. When it's too thin, add a fibery fruit, skin on.

While glassware is prettiest and shows off your blending-prowess for all to admire, a smoothie in your hand makes the hand cold. Use an insulated double wall plastic tumbler; they're all the rage, especially the BPA-free variety. One of the best things about the smoothie is its portability (time management) thus making it an excellent meal for those people between places.

Clean-up by rinsing your utensils, cutting board, and blender jar and lid immediately after use and drying with a dishcloth (or air-drying) so you don't have to run those items through the dishwasher (green tip) and they'reready for re-use immediately.

Any questions? Suggestions? Would love your input on how I can make your and my smoothie experiences better. Oh, and hey, why not follow my blog with Bloglovin?